When I had the service, the sound quality was great. MOS scores were high. I just wasn't using it because I have several other phones. I tried to cancel and was pressured into a "free" trial of their "least expensive" plan: 100 minutes for $9.99. I had to get back to work, so I agreed. After a month, I called back. 20 minutes later, after declining the least expensive plan of incoming-only for $4.99/month for a backup emergency phone (as if my Vonage phone will work if my cell phones, ShoreTel [through VPN to work], and MagicJack are all down), I finally got it canceled. While on hold, I saw that the day I called was my billing date, and they charged my credit card. I also was charged taxes for my "free" trial. I asked about a refund, but they don't refund anything. The account had been disconnected, and they couldn't reconnect it. So, I had paid for a month of service I wasn't going to get. 30 minutes of arguing later, they agreed to refund the $12.72, but not the taxes.

I was a happy vonage customer until I started having audio issues. I have been shuffled around the tech department, doing ping tests, calling my ISP...you name it, I've jumped through the hoop to try to solve my Vonage issue. Being that I paid for my service a year in advance, I'm now STUCK with my service until that comes to an end. You see, Vonage will not give you a refund. So I basically have thrown a couple hundred dollars out of the window and Vonage is unwilling to work on the issue. I really regret ever having service with them.

Wow...it sucks to say this, but I'm glad I wasn't alone in being treated so poorly by Vonage. Their customer service is the worst (right up there with Verizon)...and they do it with such a pleasant tone of voice, too. They do not allow you to cancel your service any way except calling them, which is a scam to begin with...seriously. So I can access my account online, make changes to my account online, view my call history online, listen to my voicemails online...BUT I CANNOT CANCEL my account online?!?! Yeah, right. I tried for over a month to cancel my account...and every call went the same way..."we're sorry, sir, but we cannot cancel your account right now because our systems are down and we cannot access your account". Bvllsh!t, how can I (customer) access my account and you (Vonage) can't...stop lying to me. Plus, they refuse to call you back in those situations. I said, "fine, you can't access my account now, call me back when you can...you have my number". "Nope, sorry sir, we can only accept incoming calls in this office". Bvllsh!t, you mean to tell me that there are no alarms making outgoing calls, no employees making outgoing calls...please stop playing me like an idiot. You are a communications company, of course you can make outgoing calls. That is all this company does is patronize the customer. The only reason their customer service exists is to make you GIVE UP, hang up, admit that they win and continue paying $30/month with no end in site. I have an easier time canceling a cell phone contract than I do canceling my Vonage account. Well, I finally won, if you want to call it that, granted my brain is bleeding through my ears...and I feel ten times dumber than I was earlier in the day, but I won...my account is closed...and I have the email to prove it. I feel like the kid who just won a big stuffed animal at the county fair...even though the stuffed bear is huge, you know the prize sucks...it is stuffed with newspaper that someones cat used for a litter box...but who cares, you get to walk around like a peacock with feathers in the air..."that's right, I knocked all three milk bottles off the pedestal, and you didn't...this is MY bear!" Plus, this cancellation call ended up taking nearly an hour. yeah, one hour to cancel an account, that is patronizing. She kept putting me on hold and coming back and thanking me for being a valued customer and how sad they are to see me leave. After forty-five minutes of her crap I finally let her have it. "Listen, lady, I have been pleasant and patient for three quarters of an hourI'm done. Drop your script and speak to me like a real person, not a doll with some string to pull out of your back, got it, douche. Drop the fake pleasantries. You despise your customers and simply play them. We don't like you either, got that. What I want now is my cancellation confirmation number so I can move on in lifeI'm exhaustedI've resigned to the fact that I wasted my eighteen months with youI deserve better and I know it! Okay, so I thought I won, but then they nail me with this $44 disconnect fee. Are you freakin' serious? Yeah, they are. They will not tell you about it upfront, but anybody who signed up after Feb 2007 will be assessed a $44 cancel fee if you don't stay two years. I checked my email order confirmation and the disconnect fee was never mentioned. I found the following buried on their website: $8.70 Disconnection Fee (Does Not Apply to Business Plus Customers). You will be charged a disconnection fee of $39.99 + tax per voice line if your service is disconnected, subject to state and local laws. However, if your subscription date is on or after February 1, 2007 and is disconnected after 2 years following your subscription date, the disconnection fee is waived. If your subscription date is on or before January 31, 2007, the disconnection fee is waived if your service is disconnected 1 year following your subscription date. My suggestion, stay FAR AWAY from VONAGE you will never get out.

I am writing this because I have become the victim of two scam/sham companies: Vonage and 8X8. I was with Vonage for one year and in the end I was charged for disconnection even though I fulfilled the one year contract agreement. Their biggest problem was customer service and technical support. The customer service could not get my order right no matter how often I called to get all three lines under one bill. The whole problem is the staff of customer service is based in the Philippines. They customer service could probably speak fluent Tagalog, but only an utterance in English. I was so frustrated when I tried to get support from them I could not take anymore. After so many failed attempts at trying to make it through I gave up and paid the price to leave after one year. I thought that one year and I could close my account without any issues. Finally I thought; but no, I was charged for canceling my account as a termination fee. My wife and I sell Melaluca products. One of the many services and products is the 8X8 VoIP Service. We expected the same high quality service as we expected from other partner companies in this forum. To no avail was I disappointed. The package arrived and I quickly set it up and ported our numbers to them. I could not get the fax to work. I spent 39.25 hours on the phone with Tech support, I had limited time to work with them especially when I was repeating the same sets over and over again.. Finally I told them I would not pay any further until they got the fax working. They finally relented and sent me a new converter modem for the fax line. I have made it work two times since. Then on May 28, 2009, I received an email. They are raising the rate for the fax line by 50% from $9.99 to $14.99. It pushed me over the edge. First I called them and complained they would not relent. I wrote the better business bureau and they told me they were within their writes to charge me anything they wish due the wording in article 5.9 of the customer agreement. Without notice and without malice 8X8 will and can raise the price and you can pay it or be charged for failing to meet you contract fulfillment. The BBB of San Jose, CA has given them an “A+” rating on their site in spite of several reviews to the contrary. So the better business bureau is a prostitute to the business with money to buy their services. I am so sad to come to the realization of today’s business world. Not does this review discredit these two companies, but also the Better Business Bureau. What disappointment (bowing my head in disgust).